The FA will introduce point deductions for teams across the grassroots game if their players or coaches commit repeated offences of serious misconduct, making clear to clubs that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Point deductions will apply to clubs at Step 7 and below of the men’s game, and clubs across Tier 3 and below in the women’s pyramid, which commit cumulative incidents of serious misconduct. This could include acts of discrimination and assault or attempted assault, and physical contact or attempted physical contact against a match official.

Deductions will range from 3 to 12 points depending on the amount and severity of offences committed within a 12-month period.

To find out more about how points deductions will be implemented, take a look through our FAQs below.

Points Deductions FAQs

1. If a Clubs first team and then U18s team commit serious offences, are the Club charged?
a. No, the charge is triggered if there are at least two proven discriminatory offences by the same team.
The same applies to Assault / Attempted Assault, Physical Contact or Attempted Physical Contact against a match official, there needs to be at least two offences committed by individual(s) within the same team.

2. Does it include offences from 2022/23?
a. No, this process will commence for offences taking place on, or after the 1st of July 2023.

3. What happens when a Club reach the threshold with players on short-term registrations? a. Regardless of registration length, the club will become liable if their participant(s) commit offences listed
within the guidance document.

4. Why isn’t this being applied in the professional game?
a. We understand why this question would be asked, however there is a very specific issue in the grassroots game, insofar as accumulative offences including aggravated misconduct and assault / physical contact offences.To address this issue, teams will be deducted points where they fail to act on previous serious misconduct.

5. What is the process of communicating the points deduction order to the league and following that, what would happen if the league did not comply with the order to deduct the points?
a. Once the disciplinary decision arrives, which will be encompassed into a set of written reasons, the CountyFA should wait until the appeal deadline has surpassed. Once surpassed, they should inform the league and provide them with the findings, who will then deduct the points from the league standing. If all fixtures have concluded, the points will be deducted from the following season and the team will commence on minus points.

6. Why are we not including other behaviours in particular assaults by a participant on a participant, can we have some good comms to address this?
a. There is little evidence to suggest accumulative offences including participant on participant take place. Our intention is to address the issues where data supports, including aggravated misconduct and assaults / attempted assaults & physical contact / attempted physical contact against a match official.

7. What is the definition of strict liability and if it is strict liability what can the panel do with aggravating and mitigating factors?
a. Strict liability means that the underlying offences have been committed as a matter of fact, therefore the disciplinary panel will only be required to determine sanction. There is a sanctioning range, meaning based on the aggravating and mitigating factors, the panel can determine where on that scale the breach fits best.

8. Points deductions do not apply to cup fixtures, how can County FA’s or leagues act in these games?a. County FAs will continue to bring proceedings against the individuals as per the disciplinary regulations. For consistent application, it does not include cup fixtures.

9. How is a County FA going to be notified off the repeated offences?
a. There is going to be a dashboard on CRM, which will allow County FAs to track where multiple offences have
taken place.

10. Can two charges in the same game be used and counted as cumulative misconduct or does it need to be in separate games?
a. No, two offences within the same fixture, will be counted as one offence for the purposes of accumulation.

11. What happens if one of the cases is appealed late or later and points have already beendeducted and that appeal is successful?a. In that event, the league will be required to add the deducted points back to the league standings.

12. Would a County FA charge a league for not complying with an order to deduct points and if so what charge?a. If a league refuse to deduct points, they will be subject to a misconduct charge, for failing to comply with a decision of The Association.

13. If there is a third act of applicable misconduct taking place during the 12-month period, thus triggering the charge, what evidence is needed?
a. The evidence required for submission is the result letters of the previous proven individual misconduct offences.

14. What training have the Disciplinary Panels received on the guidance?
a. The National Serious Case Panel will receive training on its applicable on the 14th of July 2023 at the
National Serious Case Panel Conference.

15. Why are only serious cases being considered, when so few teams will reach the threshold?
a. The statistics show that over 130 teams have cumulative misconduct of the offences mentioned, which are 130 teams too many. This will act as both a deterrent as well as an effective punishment for failing to deal with tolerable culture towards serious misconduct.

16. What happens if a player has a proven charge and then moves Club & has a 2nd proven case?
a. Then the individual will be sanctioned, with the second offence being an aggravated factor. The team(s) involved however, will not be punished.